Yoder, Reuben

Breeds: Pugs, Beagles, Puggles

On the premises at the time of investigation: approximately 18 dogs and 11 puppies.

Tethered Dog A single Beagle was tethered outdoors near the kennel building, with a wooden dog house lacking a windbreak (3.6(c)(4)-Prohibited means of primary enclosure); (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter). The dog house walls were scratched and worn (3.1(c)(2)-Surfaces). The dog was obviously frightened of people, as it ran back and forth while crouching low as we approached. Reuben Yoder said he tethered the dog for socialization.

Outside the kennel building Reuben Yoder had a kennel building with indoor/outdoor pens on two sides of the building. The outdoor pens had galvanized-wire walls with concrete floorings. Five pens on one side of the building housed Beagles and Pugs, with three dogs per pen.

Each pen had a metal grate in the flooring next to the wall with the doggie door. These grates were about two inches above the ground, completely covered in rust, and covered more than half the area of the pen. The metal wall at the rear of the pens was covered in dirty build-up, rust, and scratches (3.1(c)(3); 3.1(c)(2)-Surfaces).

Months of fecal accumulation was built up under the grates and on the concrete floor around the grates. Feces also had accumulated outside the pen walls furthest from the doggie-doors, likely the result of the dogs running back and forth in the pens. Directly where the wire walls met the concrete flooring, however, there was a heavy feces build up (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). Flies covered the kennel area (3.11(d)-Pest control).

One of the dog doors had no windbreak on it (3.1(c)(1)(i) Surfaces); (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements).

Weeds as tall as four feet were growing just beyond the concrete flooring of the pens (3.1(b)-Condition and site).

The opposite side of the barn had a Bull Mastiff pen similar in design to the smaller dog pens. It had concrete flooring and galvanized-wire walls. This pen housed two Mastiffs.

Feces stains covered the concrete, and there was a dirty build-up on the pen wall with a metal doggie door (3.1(c)(3)-Surfaces).

Another pen on the same side of the building as the Mastiffs housed a whelping Beagle and a litter of five Puggles.

Indoor pens The indoor pens had plastic walls and floorings, metal self-feeders on the pen doors, and water spigots serving each enclosure. Brown stains were on all of the walls and doggie doors. In some places, the stains were so thick they were black (3.1(c)(3)-Surfaces).

There was feces accumulation in the corners of the pens and the crevasses where the walls and floor met (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures).

A cage of six Puggle puppies, with a metal water dish and metal self-feeder, was elevated over an indoor Beagle/Pug pen. The puppy cage had treated-wire flooring that allowed feces to fall onto wooden shavings; however, it was evident the waste had not been cleaned up in several days (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). A brown build-up was on the plastic walls forming three sides of this cage (3.1(c)(3)-Surfaces).

The indoor pen of the nursing Beagle and Puggle litter had thick, dark brown and black build-up on its walls and doggie door (3.1(c)(3)-Surfaces). A plastic sheet was nailed over the bottom half of the doggie door, presumably to keep the puppies from going outside; this sheet was stained brown (3.1(c)(3)-Surfaces).

Sheetrock on the ceiling over the pens had yellowish-brown stains from water damage (3.1(c)(2)-Surfaces). Dead flies littered the floor (3.11(d)-Pest control).